It’s the day after Thanksgiving and all is well. I started my day off with a 1.23 mile walk, which was really nice. The weather was perfect and I felt like it was my opportunity to redeem myself for going over my caloric budget yesterday. After my walk, I had breakfast at a nearby diner. For some reason I had a taste for steak and eggs. I don’t know why because I can’t even tell you the last time I ate steak. Well anywho I had 2 scrambled eggs with cheese and onions, two slices of toast and a 12oz. rib eye steak. Can I just tell you that my breakfast this morning came within 450 calories shy of my daily budget…YIKES!
When I logged that breakfast into MyFitness Pal I was stunned. In just one meal I had eaten over 1000 calories. My goodness it adds up quickly. The good news is that I didn’t eat the hash brown potato’s that came with the meal or I would have been completely done with eating for the day. I’m so glad I logged my meal at that moment because if I hadn’t, I would have certainly gone over my budget in a detrimental way. But once I saw those calories, I made up my mind to reign myself in for the rest of the day.
As I shared yesterday, I’ve been tracking my eating in MyFitness Pal consistently for a month and it has really paid off. Since doing so, I have stayed under my daily calorie goal for the majority of days and I have lost 5lbs. I made up my mind to make this a daily habit when I thought about what was the one thing I could do to jump start my journey again and that would have a big impact on the results I was looking for. I knew tracking was a good place to start because:
- It causes me to be honest with myself
- It holds me accountable
- It slows me down and makes me think before I eat
- It helps me to see patterns of days/weeks where I do well and not so well and helps me pinpoint my triggers
- It helps me to track my feelings, more specifically my emotional eating
- It shows me if I’m not eating enough or if I’m waiting too long to eat between meals
In addition to tracking in MyFitness Pal, I also use a paper tracker, where I jot down how well I sleep each night, and the signals my body gives me based on my eating in the form of cravings, energy, hunger and my mood. For instance, last week and the week before I had a baked potato for lunch. Almost immediately after eating I got a bad case of the itis. I was able to see the pattern that was developing for me after eating a potato. I would get so sleepy and I’d be completely unproductive. So no more potato’s for me at lunch time or in the middle of the day. This is also why I chose to skip the hash brown potato’s this morning because I knew it would put me fast to sleep. And you know what, my energy has been at a level 8 all day and I didn’t even take a nap.
So at this point, as I am working to change my habits, one at a time, tracking what I eat is both a non-negotiable and apart of my lifestyle. To get a copy of my daily tracker, click the picture the picture below.
Your Turn To Share
What tool or method do you use to track your eating and hold yourself accountable?